Insider Guide: Best of Shanghai

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Remember this view of the world's most mega-city. It won't look the same next year. Maybe not even next month.

CNN Insider Guides are thoroughly checked for accuracy. Given the fluid nature of the travel industry, however, some listings may fall out of date before guides can be updated. The best practice is to confirm current information on official websites before making plans to visit any business or attraction.

(CNN)Welcome to the future.

Upon arrival, you will be transported to the city center via the world's fastest commercial train, the Maglev, switch to a ride on the world's longest metro system, look out from the world's tallest observation deck and, lastly, climb into a bed almost half a kilometer in the air.

This is the best of Shanghai, home to more than 20 million residents, 6,000 high-rises (and growing) and a constant chorus of jackhammers.

It's a city striving to set all the benchmarks for the modern world.

The commercial hub was developed by far-sighted European traders 160 years ago and it remains the destination for people who can't wait to experience tomorrow today.

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Our best of Shanghai guide shows you how to enjoy the sprawling city's -- past, present and future.

And, yes, there'll be enough fun even for visitors who suffer from vertigo.

Hotels

Luxury

Waldorf Astoria Shanghai on the Bund (上海外滩华尔道夫酒店)

The Waldorf Astoria occupies one of Shanghai's oldest buildings: the restored 101-year-old former Shanghai Club.

With giant chandeliers, neo-classical ceiling carvings and original marble floor tiles shipped from Sicily a century ago, the interior feels more like a royal palace than a hotel.

Most of its 260 rooms are located in the newly built 24-story tower. Many deliver unobstructed view of Lujiazui's skyscraper forest.

Rooms are decked out in nostalgic American style, with modern plush touches such as large walk-in closets, Hermès bathing amenities and digital TVs embedded in the mirrors.

The hotel's historic Long Bar (34 meters from end to end) mixes the city's top-notch cocktails.

Currently the highest hotel in mainland China, the Park Hyatt provides the best angle to view Shanghai: from the top.

Occupying the upper part (79th-93rd floors) of the 492-meter Shanghai World Financial Center, all 174 rooms enjoy stunning vistas overlooking Lujiazui high-rises, the Huangpu River or the Puxi downtown area.

Interiors follow a streamlined Chinese style with earth-tone furniture and outsize bathrooms that include a one-square-meter walk-in rain shower.

The hotel lobby is on the 87th floor.

On the 93rd floor, Music Room bills itself as the world's highest nightclub.

Located in a protected historic building, this best of Shanghai hotel is for travelers who want to trade Lujiazui's gridlocked avenues for the tree-lined streets of the former French Concession.

The 15-story, 259-room Picardie sits opposite Xujiahui Park, one of the best locations in town to observe China's unique park culture: you'll see massive exercise groups at dawn and a public dancing spectacle at dusk.

It's also a quick stroll from Shanghai's traditional bar district on Hengshan Lu, the shopping district of Xujiahui and Metro Line 1.

This 26-room boutique hotel in downtown Jing'an District was once a post office and now claims to be China's first carbon neutral hotel.

The renovation, which was completed using 100 percent locally-sourced and recycled materials, has won numerous awards for its sustainability and design.

Located on a local street, across the road from one of Shanghai's best little tonkatsu joints, URBN is popular with visitors looking for innovative design and a green feel, with rooms over-looking a courtyard and bamboo garden.

The food and beverage options are also none to shabby at URBN, with its Downstairs restaurant serving up delicious weekend brunch options accompanied by a mean Bloody Mary.

This no-frills hotel chain provides all the basics for a short stay for the price of a few drinks in a ritzy bar.

Location is superb for the price. The 159-room inn is within walking distance of many tourist attractions, such as Old Town, People's Square, Huaihai Zhong Lu and Xintiandi.

It's also at the south end of Yunnan Nan Lu, one of Shanghai's original food streets with some of the city's yummiest shengjian (fried dumplings) at Da Hu Chun (大壶春, 71 Yunnan Nan Lu, near Jinling Dong Lu).

The budget hotel brand operates at some 85 branches all over Shanghai, from commercial zones to airports and railway stations.

Tea, fruit plates, Wi-Fi, board games, shoeshines and even manicures are provided to customers for free.

Enthusiastic staff keep waiting diners upbeat.

The restaurant chain boils hot pot 24/7.

The meal itself embraces a staggering choice of vegetables, meat and seafood that diners cook themselves in a bubbling pot of broth placed in the middle of the table. Hot pot soups range from super-spicy to plain and diners get to DIY their dipping sauce.

The hand-pulled noodles are prepared tableside with a kung fu-style noodle dance.

The brand hosts a virtual dining service in two locations in Shanghai and Beijing.

This chain of bars is wildly popular in many of China's second- and third-tier cities and since they opened their first Shanghai incarnation it's become apparent that the formula works wonders in the big smoke as well.

Simply take some insanely gawdy decor (think a cross between Willy Wonka's factory and a pirate ship), add flashing lights, tipsy people looking for a good time, an emphasis on bottle service and a setlist of top 40 remixes and you can't lose.

A perennially interesting market, traditionally selling pets, flowers, home wares and more, a recent fire means the live animal section of the Hongqiao Bird and Flower Market is currently under renovation.

Despite the fact that you won't be able to pick up a 100-year-old turtle or talking parrot here (for now), it's still worth a visit in order to wander among the many-hued blossoms of the real and (seriously high-quality) fake flowers on display, or check out some of the unique housewares, which run the gamut from gaudy to graceful to gargantuan (see if you can fit a life-sized white unicorn with an asking price of RMB 22,000 in your luggage!).

Hongqiao Bird and Flower Market, 718 Hongjing Lu, near Hongsong Lu

Attractions

Bund (外滩)

The 1,100-meter waterfront known as the Bund forms Shanghai's backbone.

British and French colonized the strip in the mid-19th century to develop international trading -- the Bund became one of the most prosperous ports in Asia in the early-20th century.

Nowadays the buildings, mostly built between 1901 and 1930 in various styles, house high-end boutiques, restaurants and bars.

A must-do on the Bund stroll is to pass through the revolving door of the former HSBC Shanghai office (today's No. 12, Zhongshan Dong Yi Lu) and check out the original ceiling and wall paintings. Upon completion in 1925, the Brits declared the building the most exquisite structure in the eastern hemisphere.

Just off the Bund, next to the Peninsula Shanghai, is the Rockbund, a newly developed pedestrian street with more restored colonial structures.

Almost half a kilometer up in the air (474 meters to be exact), the 55-meter-long Skywalk 100 observation corridor spans a gap in the 100th-floor summit of the Shanghai World Financial Center.

As the world's highest observatory, Skywalk 100 provides a powerful perspective: Jinmao Tower (420.5 meters) is right under its nose and the view (on a clear day) extends beyond Zhongshan Park in Puxi.

Walking through the deck is an almost hallucinatory experience: the observatory's angled glass walls can make visitors feel as if they're leaning over the edge.

And it has see-through glass flooring.

A slightly less vertiginous option is the Skywalk 97. It's a mere 439 meters high, with a glass roof that opens up.

The "marriage market" is less tourist attraction and more about a view into unique local culture.

Every Saturday and Sunday, hundreds of parents gather at People's Park, regardless of the weather, with the hope of finding an ideal partner for their high-time-they-got-hitched offspring.

Parents simply clutch single sheets of paper that present their children in a few simple phrases -- age, height, education, job, salary, whether they studied abroad and whether they own their own apartment.

Female candidates outnumber male by far, so enthusiastic parents have a passion for chatting up any young single male in the area.

People's Park 'marriage market', Gate 5 of People's Square Park, 75 Nanjing Xi Lu., across from the Grand Theater. Take Metro line 1, 2 or 8 to People's Square station, take Exit 9 to the ground level and turn left. The marriage market takes place on Saturday and Sunday afternoons from about noon to three.

Walking Tours

Former French Concession

Planned and built by French colonists in the early 20th century, this neighborhood -- roughly bound by Ruijin Lu to the East, Yan'an Lu to the North, Zhaojiabang Lu to the South and Huashan Lu to the West -- is more Parisian than Chinese.

Its quiet, tree-lined streets now teem with boutiques, bars and restaurants.